


Thantos: The Angel of Death

by Circe_Witch



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), X-Men (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Howard Stark's A+ Parenting, Mutant Pepper Potts, Mutant Tony Stark, Xavier Institute
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-08-11
Packaged: 2018-02-07 15:43:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1904613
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Circe_Witch/pseuds/Circe_Witch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark was ten years old when he discovered he was a mutant.  Choosing to meet with Charles Xavier set him on the path to becoming the invisible, reclusive, and mysterious benefactor/founder of the X-Men.  His path never crossed with those of the X-men, until the day they called S.H.I.E.L.D. for help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Discovery

Tony was ten when he first discovered his mutation. He was working hard at building a circuit board, one that would power his first robot, when he suddenly realized that he needed a screwdriver to attach the two pieces of the board together. As usual, his father was out of the country on one of his yearly trips to the Arctic, as his mother told him. Tony never understood why the trips were so important; it wasn’t like there was anything important there. The land was completely covered in snow and ice, like the pictures his tutor had show him.

His mother was also out of the house, attending one of the many charities that she spon-sored. Even Jarvis, his family’s butler was gone; shopping for grand-niece’s birthday. Tony sighed and looked up from searching for the screwdriver. Maybe there’s one in dad’s workshop. He thought. Walking through the hallway, Tony felt that his parents should have gotten a small-er house. This place is so big that I could fit a dinosaur in here and no one would ever find out. Typing the code into the numberpad, Tony entered the workshop and started searching. He checked the toolbox, the cabinets, and the surrounding rooms. When he was just about to give up, Tony saw the screwdriver on top of the cabinet that he had just searched. Brightening up considerably, Tony reached for it, only to draw up short.

Realizing that he would need something to stand on, he searched the rooms for a ladder, and finding none, began to stack the boxes of tools that his father had on top of each other. Feel-ing victorious Tony reached for the tool only to slip on a screw and began to fall. In desperation, he grabbed the construction paper on the cabinet, only to have it rip and the box on top begin to fall on him.

Tony closed his eyes, covering his face with his arms, waiting for himself to hit the ground and the box to fall on top of him. Waited and waited and waited. Except, it never did. Opening his eyes, Tony saw that the box was floating in the air above his head, unheld by ropes or strings. His eyes widened in disbelief and astonishment. Looking down, he realized that he was also floating in the air, almost a foot off the ground.

Reaching out he touched the floating box, causing it to float upwards like a balloon that had just been poked. Tony concentrated and the box moved back to its spot on the cabinet, while Tony himself was deposited gently onto the ground.

Tony felt so very happy. He could move thing with his mind! This is so cool. I wonder what else I can do? And just as soon as the thought came into his mind, his father’s face ap-peared, dark and twisted in horror as he watched the news about mutants in Washington. “They’re unnatural. Abominations. Not human. They shouldn't be allowed to live.”

When Tony had walked into the room, Howard had immediately dragged him in front of the TV and pointed at the video footage of mutants in front of the capital building. They were coming out of the courthouse. "Never trust mutants Anthony. They shouldn't even exist in the world. They are unnatural and an abomination."

Tony nodded even though he didn't know why. The people in the TV looked interesting and one of them was a very pretty lady with blonde, almost white, hair. But he knew he shouldn't say anything while father was in one or his rages.

Tony knew that his father would never accept what he was, even though he was his son. Cleaning up the workshop so that it looked the same as when he entered it, Tony ran back t his room and started researching mutants. Along the way, he discovered that each mutant was unique and had their own set of powers and their own place on the scale. And no two powers were the same.

He was running through the information when he saw a paragraph that stood out.  
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters is the only school for mutants and their families. It helps them prepare their powers and their minds for the world. Started by Dr. Charles Xavier, a gifted man who first published the papers and theories on the mutation that gives normal humans extraordinary powers, the X-gene, named for the man who discovered this mutation, Charles Xa-vier. Some believe that the X-gene is the next stage in human evolution, while others believe that those with the X-gene are a separate and unnecessary branch of the Homo Saipian line and should be eradicated because of the threat they pose to the human line.

Tony thought about it and knew that he would need to do. He had always wanted to visit New York. It looked like now was the perfect time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Charles Xavier answered the bell at midnight, he wasn't expecting to see the Tony Stark standing on his doorstep with panic written on his face. Before he could ask what he was doing here, Tony was already babbling.

"I'm sorry but I didn't know where else to go! I thought about talking to my parents, but they don't like mutants and I couldn't trust anyone else. And I--"

"Anthony! Calm down. Take a deep breath and tell me what is going on. And come in-side! A child shouldn't be out alone at night."

Closing the door, Charles walked Anthony thought the hallway of his home and into his study. "Sit down Anthony. Here." Filling a glass with water, he handed it to Tony.

"Thank you Mr. Xavier." Drinking the water, Tony studied the room with the desk and the antique furniture with barely hidden curiosity. After taking it back, Charles studied the hound man in front of him.

"Alright. Now, what seems to be the problem Anthony?”

The child, he seemed to be no more than 10, blinked up at him with owlish eyes. “How to you know my name, Mr. Xavier?”

Charles chuckled. “Everyone knows who you are Anthony. You’re father is quite fa-mous for creating things for the military. And you my dear boy are quite well known for being a child protégé. And that brings me to my question. What would cause a young man, who has eve-rything he could ever want at home, to bring himself to my doorstep in the middle of the night?”

Tony’s eyes started shifting nervously. “Are we alone?” he whispered

“Of course, Anthony. I live on my own and don’t have any students yet. I only just re-cently opened the school. You’re the first person to set foot here in quite some time.”

“Tony was silent for a few minutes and then whispered, “I’m a mutant. Please don’t tell anyone!” he hurriedly asked.

Charles was stunned. “Anthony.” He asked slowly “Do you know what a being a mutant means? Are you absolutely sure that--”

But Tony was already nodding his head. “I fell off my dad’s step ladder yesterday morn-ing, but I didn’t land on the ground. I was floating almost a foot off the ground and the box that fell off the cabinet? I put it back where it was with my mind. I was along at home so no one knew what I’d done. And my dad’s workshop doesn’t have any cameras so I wasn’t caught on video.”

“I see.” Deciding on something, Charles asked Tony to follow him through the house and into a room with a keypad and metal door to keep out intruders. The room was hollowed out and had a ramp extending to the middle. Indicating to the control panel at the end of the ramp, Charles explained. "This is Cerebro. I use it to find mutants who's powers have awakened and help them to control them. For some reason, I never saw you Anthony. When a new mutant awakens, their power sends a ripple through the psychic plane. Now," Charles turned his wheel-chair to face Tony. "Anthony, I will need to see where on the power scale you fall and if you have any other abilities."

"What do you mean Mr. Xavier? Isn't being able to move objects with my mind my only ability?"

"Not at all Anthony. If it possible to have more than one ability, but one ability will al-ways be stronger than the other. Basically, it will be your main ability. And the ability to move objects with your mind is called Telekinesis. And since you were able to do so without any ex-haustion, for someone your age; your ability must be a at least level 3."

"How many levels are there?"

"There are five levels. But some mutants who are extremely powerful can be classified into Level 6. Technically it doesn't exist, but Sixes are much more powerful than any mutant on the planet, regardless of their abilities."

Tony thought about it. He wants to help. He thought. At least that's better than what oth-ers would have done. "Ok Mr. Xavier. You can look inside my mind. Will it hurt?"

"No. You won't feel anything at all. I will simply be moving through your subconscious-ness.”

At Tony’s nod of acceptance, Charles closed his eyes, put his forefingers to his temple and astral projected himself into Tony’s mind. And what he saw there shocked him. Raw power, so much that it could power a nuclear reactor, was surrounding his mind. More so than any mu-tant he had ever met. And Charles had met many mutants.

Pulling himself out of his shock, Charles went though Tony’s mind until he saw that Tony also had gifts with Telepathy and Electrokinesis. And while the former was small, the later was at the same level as his Telekinetic ability. A level 6 mutant and he came to me for help. Charles was astonished.

Pulling himself out of the young child’s mind, he opened his eyes to find Tony looking at him with curiosity and fear. “Well. It seems you do have more than one gift Anthony.”

“Is that bad?”

“No. It just means that you have to control your emotions and mind better than most. Do you want to be the best Anthony?”

“Yes. That way I don’t loose control. Can I ask…what level am I?”

“You have Telekinesis and Electrokinesis powers at Level 6, while you are also a minor Telepath at Level 2. That means that you can communicate over distances, but you cannot enter the minds of anyone.”

“Oh. That’s good, right?”

Charles smiled at the boy, prompting Tony to smile in return. “It is marvelous Anthony. It means that you could become very important in the mutant world. Now—“ Charles began to lead Tony out of the Cerebro room and into the hallways leading back to the study. “I have to ask, do your parents know that you’re here?”

“No.” said Tony, shaking his head. “Daddy’s away in the Arctic for four more weeks and mommy has a charity function she has to attend out of the country. They don’t know that I’m gone. I don’t usually go anywhere, so they don’t bother to have me supervised.”

Charles was shocked by this, “Don’t they have a security system or something to make sure you’re safe?”

“They do. I learned how to disable it months ago. It was quite lacking. And I could so much better.”

Charles laughed. Spending time with Anthony was like spending time in a carnival. One discovery after another and each one, more incredible than the last. "Would you like to spend a few days here, before you're agents come back home? I could teach you to control you're abili-ties. "

"Yes, please!"

"Then we have a deal Anthony." Said Charles, holding out his hand. Tony shook his hand and sealed his destiny as a founder of the X-Men.


	2. The Passing of a Titan

** 10 years later.... **

 

It was 10 years before Tony ever thought about that day. Since then he had achieved much, lived much, and learned much. But the most painful lesson that Tony could ever learn was that death waited for no one and there was no cheating it, no matter who you were.

 

Since the day he had stood on Xavier’s doorstep, Tony had come a long way.  He had attended MIT at a young age and had been become well known for his work and achievements in the Artificial Intelligence field.  Mainly his robots, Dummy, Butterfingers, and You.  But his greatest achievement to date was the creation of his AI, JARVIS, which he had named after his late confidant.  If any ever asked, Tony would tell them it stood for Just A Rather Very Intelligent System, but only Charles knew the truth, and he kept his secret, just like every other one for nearly a decade. 

 

The was like any other day, except that no one would know until it happened that this day would be a tragedy.

 

Tony was spending the day at the family's Malibu home when he received the call.

 

"Heeyyy Platypus! What's up?" Colonel James Rhodes or Platypus as Tony liked to call him was a good friend from MIT. He and Tony had hit off during their teenage years and had kept in touch despite their age differences and Rhodes leaving to join the Air Force and later, the liaison with SI. He was one of the few close friends that Tony had, but Tony had yet to tell him that he was a mutant.

 

"Tony, man. I'm really sorry to have to tell you this, but there's been a car accident. Your parents were driving to a fundraiser when it happened. Tony they didn't--.  I'm sorry Tony." But Tony didn’t hear anything else, because he had dropped the phone in shock.  Even though they hadn’t been close, Tony still loved his mother and father, and the thought of never seeing them again, nearly caused him to break down.

 

Tony fell to his knees and let out a roar, letting out all the emotion he had allowed to build up.  But what was more frightening was his Telekinetic ability.  The power, which he always kept a tight reign on, erupted, sending an invisible wave of energy that blew all the glass in his workshop to pieces. And Tony fell into darkness.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

 

When Tony came to, he found himself on the floor surrounded by bits and pieces of glass.

 

_“_ _Sir?_ _”_ It seemed Jarvis had been trying to wake him up for the past few minutes.  _“_ _Sir? I have an incoming call from Professor Xavier, he seems most anxious._ _”_

 

Tony groaned as his head pounded. “Patch it though J.” A video chat of Charles appeared on the holoscreen.

 

“Anthony? Are you all right? I sensed a disturbance in the physic plane from you.  As did Jean.”

 

“No, no I’m not all right.  Damn it X, my parents are dead!”

 

Charles face twisted into shock. “Wh-what!? How? What happened Anthony?”

 

“Rhodes called me a few minutes ago.  There was a car accident and my parents didn’t make it.”

 

“Do you want me to come down to Malibu? I can if you need me to.”

 

“No! No.” Tony sighed.  “The School needs you right now.  All those mutants and no one to guide them, it would be a disaster. I’ll be fine.”

 

“Are you sure?” Charles looked at the room and noticed the glass pieces all over the floor.

 

“What happened to the room? It looks like something exploded.”

 

“Something did. My powers escaped their leash. Telekinesis destroyed all the glass in the workshop.”

 

“Do you have control over it now?”

 

“Yes.  Looks like I need to keep a tighter lid on those emotions, especially if they could cause this much damage.” He grimaced. “Maybe I need to take up meditation again.”

 

Charles surveyed the part of the room that he could see.  “Yes. I believe it would be best.” He turned his eyes back to Tony. “It would keep you calmer.”

 

“And I’m going to need it in the coming weeks.”

 

Charles had sympathy on his face. “If you ever need anyone to talk to about your day, Anthony, know that I will always be here. Call me. Understood?

 

“Yes Charles.” He hesitated. “And thank you. I know I'm not the easiest person to get along with, but I do appreciate everything you've done for me."

 

"It was my pleasure Anthony. Many mutants with your level of power tend to follow a darker path. I'm just glad I was able to get to you in time to train you."

 

"I feel the same. Well, I guess I'll get off the phone then, you must have a lot to do."

 

"I do, but I always have time for you. Call me if anything happens, understand?"

 

"Yes, sir. Goodbye Xavier." Ending the call, Tony turned to survey the workshop. He sent a small burst of Telekinesis and sent all the glass shards into a trash bin."

 

"Jarvis?"

 

_"Yes sir?"_

 

"Access my private contacts list and change my primary contact to Charles Xavier."

 

_"It is done sir."_

 

"Good. Now, has anyone attempted to contact me during the time I was unconscious?"

 

_"After you dropped your phone the call with Colonel Rhodes was disconnected. He has attempted to contact you 3 more times and is now on his to the house. He should arrive in approximately 30 minutes. Mr. Stane has attempted to contact you once and has not retried. There have been no other calls, sir."_

 

"Thanks J. I'm going to go lie down. When Rhodes gets here, let him in and tell him where I am. And don't mention anything about the explosion. And lock down the lab, please."

 

_"Of course, sir."_

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

**1 year later...**

**Location: SI Headquarters, Conference Room**

 

Tony Stark made his way from his car to the doors of SI. Whispers began to follow him as soon as he entered and didn't stop until he was in the elevator. No one had seen a Stark in the company since the death of Howard and Maria.

 

Entering the conference room, Tony surveyed the board and Obie, standing at the head of the table and smirked. "Let's get this meeting started." Tony was appointed the new CEO of SI by the end of the week.

 

It was a few months after this that Virginia "Pepper" Potts came into his life. Like any other week, Tony would stop by SI to show Obadiah his weapon designs and go over the accounting.  Since he had been named CEO, Tony had gone though so many secretaries that Obi had told him that if he made his newest secretary quit, then he was on his own.

 

Tony was going though some paperwork when he heard a commotion in the hallway.  Checking outside, he found his guards rolling on the ground, clutching their faces and moaning. Stalking towards him was a red-head wearing a business suit, but what caught his attentions was that she was wearing a medallion with The School's coat of arms, an X with the words _Mutatis M_ _utandis_

(Changing only those things which need to be changed) inscribed at the bottom and the school's initials at the top.

 

They were only given to members who were part of the Inner Circle, Tony's inner circle. And the Professor never gave them out lightly.

 

The women smiled and extended her hand, "Mr. Stark, it's nice to finally meet you. I've heard a lot.” _Our mutual friend sent me. My name is Virginia Potts._ The rest was sent to his mind with her telepathy.

 

“Ms. Potts, it's nice to meet you as well.” He said shaking her hand. “Can I ask why you attacked my security?”

 

“They were in my way and your secretary wouldn’t let me through even after I asked her to call you.”

 

“I see.” Tony made a note to fire her after this meeting. “Follow me to my office please. We can talk more privately there.”

 

“Of course.” She followed him and sat down as he closed the door. Tony held up a finger to his mouth and had Jarvis run a search for bugs and initiate M2 lockdown.

 

The door was locked, all transmissions were cut, and the windows were shaded so that no one could look into the room. Tony sat down and pulled up a holoscreen that called Xavier.

 

The moment that Xavier’s face appeared, Tony started yelling.  “What the hell Xavier! Why is there someone from The School in my building?!”

 

“Ah. I take it Ms. Potts arrived safely?” he said calmly.  He looked unruffled, even though Tony was practically glaring him to death.

 

“Explain.” Ordered Tony, curtly. He changed the settings on the holoscreen so that it was visible to Ms. Potts as well.

 

“Alright, alright. One moment. I just need to make sure we’re not disturbed for the remainder of out time together.” When Tony nodded, he wheeled himself out of bounds of the screen. They heard a door shut, a lock click, and a computerized voice announcing that the room was in lock down. "Now then, let's talk." Charles wheeled himself back onto the screen and smiled back at Tony.

 

"Yes." Tony bit out. "Let's talk about why you send one of your students here when we had an agreement. I can't been seen associating with mutants in public, Charles. If anyone finds out, there will be an inquiry, unwanted questions asked, and my cover will be blown to hell!"

 

"Excuse me? Your cover?" They turned to stare at Pepper, her voice was icy. "Charles, what's going on. You told me I was here to be the eyes and ears of a friend, nothing more. Why would you send me to someone who's against mutants?"

 

"Enough both of you." Charles said sternly. "I did not send you here to have you both squabbling like petty children." At once, they both subsided. "Now, Anthony," he said looking at Tony. "I sent Virginia here to help you as you take on the reigns of the company. You will need help, especially since you cannot trust Obidiah. She will stay out of sight, while keeping at eye on all this who work under you, to make sure there are no surprises." He clarified.

 

"What are her powers?" Tony cut in, before he could continue.

 

"She is a Level 2 Telepath and a Level 3 Pyrokinetic. She can create and manipulate fire. It will become useful whenever you have a fire accident in your lab. Or a explosion."

 

"It might be necessary." Tony admitted grudgingly. "But that doesn't mean I'm just going to hire her."

 

"Tony. She's smart, well learned, can make even Logan squirm, and--"

 

Tony interrupted him before he could finish. "Do you trust her with your life and mind?"

 

Charles studied them both for almost a minute before he replied. "Yes. I'd trust her with my life. And the lives of everyone in this school. If it came to a choice, she would choose the children before herself." He added.

 

Tony smiled at him. "Then that is all I needed to know. You're hired Ms. Potts. When can you start?"

 

"Whenever you need." Virginia still didn't understand Anthony Stark, but she knew that he was someone that the Professor trusted.

 

"Good, because I'm about to fire my PA." He stood up and left the room before she could say anything, leaving her to stare off after him.

 

Charles chuckled. “He takes some getting used to, my dear.  But he has a heart of gold.”

 

“I think I’m starting to see that.” She turned back to the screen. “And how do you know him?”

 

“That my dear is for him to answer. But, to give you a hint: Anthony was my first student, before the others came to the school.”

 

“He’s a mutant?” she whispered. “How the hell does no one know? How did they not find out?”

 

“Anthony had me keep it a secret because he didn’t want his parents to somehow find out.  They weren’t very enamored of mutants and he didn’t want them to potentially hate him.  He’s a level six mutant with powers of Telekinesis, Electrokinesis, and Telepathy.”

 

“Oh my god. He’s the school’s benefactor isn’t he? You always told us that we had the patronage of a six, but you never told us who.”

 

“He wanted to remain anonymous while giving back.  The School was where he felt most at home. And don’t mention this to anyone, please. He wants to keep his identity a secret and I want to respect his privacy.”

 

“Of course sir.” Charles closed the call and left Virginia to contemplate her new employer.

 

When Tony came back she had mentally prepared herself for whatever he might need her to do. “Alright Pepper. Lets get this started. My PA left after I fired her. I don’t think she did anything to the schedule, so you won’t have to worry about that. If you miss anything, don’t worry, Obi will take care of it.”

 

“Pepper?” she asked.

 

Tony smiled widely at her. “It’s your new nickname. You did pepper spray my guards and you are a pyro aren’t you?”

 

She was getting flustered. “Well yes, but—“

 

“Then its settled, Pepper." He held out his hand.

 

"Oh what the hell." She shrugged and shook his offered hand. _It's a hell of a better nickname than carrot top._


	3. Rebirth Part 1

**10 years later….**

 

Tony woke up to pain, a car battery connected to his chest, and some idiot humming a tune. He strained to sit up and nearly collapsed from the pain. Looking around he saw a car battery with wires leading to his bandages.  Horrified, he followed the wires until they led underneath the bandages on his chest.

 

He ripped the bandages in a frenzy, he found that the wires led to a metal container in his chest. He tried to rip the wires off, when the man spoke.

 

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” He muttered, causing Tony to look away from the nightmare his life had turned to. The man was now sitting near the fire and stirring a pot of something.

 

“What the hell did you do to me?” his voice was raw, possibly from all the screaming that he did.

 

The man looked up and smiled. “What I did? What I did was to save your life.” He nodded to the battery and then resumed stirring the pot. “I removed all the shrapnel I could, but there’s a lot left, and it’s headed into your atrial septum—your heart.”

 

He pulls out a small crystal vial and tosses it to Tony. “Here, want to see?”

 

Tony catches it and holds it up to the light. Inside are small metal fragments each no bigger than a button. “I’ve seen many wounds like that in my village.  We call them the walking dead, because it takes about a week for the barbs to reach the vital organs.” The man explains, but Tony stopped hearing everything after heart. Even his powers weren’t working. _I haven_ _’_ _t used them in so long, that they_ _’_ _ve been blocked by the pain._

 

Tony points to the metal imbedded in him. “What is this?” the man glances at the battery before answering softly.

 

“It is an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery and it’s the only thing keeping the shrapnel from entering your heart.”

 

Tony zips up his jacket. Looking around the cave, he notices the CCTV camera in the corner. “That’s right. Smile.” The man encourages, before returning to stirring the pot again. “We met once, you know, at a technical conference in Bern.”

 

“I don't remember.”

 

“No, you wouldn't. If I had been that drunk, I wouldn't have been able to stand, much less give a lecture on integrated circuits.”

 

Then the terrorists enter the cave and everything after that was a cloud of pain for Tony. After the torture Tony sat in front of the fire while the man (or Googles as Tony like to call him) watched him. Goggles noticed that Tony had the face of a man who had lost everything.

 

"I'm sure they're looking for you, Stark. But they will never find you in these mountains. Look, what you just saw, that is your legacy, Stark. Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?"

 

Tony knew that no one would find him, after all, who could find a man trapped in a cave with Demons? No one could leave Hell until the Devil himself decided to let him go. "Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week."

 

"Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it? Hmmm?" Tony really wanted to punch the guy. Why couldn't he just leave him alone? Then a lightbulb went off in his head. He didn't have to build the missile. They just had to think that he was.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tony agrees to the terms of the terrorists and watches as they carry materials into the cave. "If this is going to be my work station, I want it well-lit. I want these up. I need welding gear. I don't care if it's acetylene or propane. I need a soldering station. I need helmets. I'm gonna need goggles. I would like a smelting cup. I need two sets of precision tools."

 

With the help of Goggles, Tony tore apart the weapons and missiles that they were given, wishing, not for the first time, that he had kept his powers in peak condition. They could have gotten him out of the cave and the hellhole he was currently trapped in.

 

"We don't need this." He ripped out a couple of wires and tossed then behind him. Then hold up a piece of metal with his pliers.

 

"What is that?" Goggles looked perplexed.

 

"That's palladium, 0.15 grammes. We need at least 1 .6, so why don't you go break down the other 11?"

 

After Tony had poured the mould, Goggles carried the hot molten metal to the table and poured it onto the metal of the Arc Reactor.

 

"Careful. Careful, we only get one shot at this."

 

"Relax. I have steady hands. Why do you think you're still alive?" Tony wanted to laugh, but if this plan worked, then he would be set for life.

 

"What do I call you?"

 

"My name is Yinsen."

 

"Yinsen. Nice to meet you." And he meant it. Because of his intelligence, many people didn't understand or want to understand Tony. When they looked at him, they only saw the money that he could make. It was nice to meet someone who didn't care who Tony was and only cared about what he could do on his own merit.

 

"Nice to meet you, too."

 

Though they continued to work on the suit under the pretense of creating the Jericho Missile, Tony and Yinsen knew they were out of time when Raza came and gave them an ultimatum. They worked on the suit through the night, taking care not to reveal their plan until it was too late.

 

As soon as the pieces were welded together, Yinsen helped Tony put on the suit and started the upload. When the guards began to bang on the door, they knew they were out of time, but the progress bar was only halfway complete.

 

“We need more time. Ok, I'm gonna go buy you some time.” He grabs a gun from one of the dead guards and runs from the cell, firing randomly.

 

“Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan!” As he watched the progress bar slowly progress through the screen, Tony wished, not for the first time that he could use his powers again.

 

As soon as the bar reaches 100%, all the lights went out, but Tony is able to see four guards cautiously making their way through the darkness, searching for him. As soon a the first guard stood next to him, Tony attacked, punching the man hard enough that he caused a dent in the wall of the cave.

 

He cut through the guards who were unlucky enough to be caught in his path and destroyed the doors out of the cell that he had been forced into. When he made it to the mouth of the cave, he found Yinsen on top of a pile of bags and fell to his knees beside the man, opening his helmet.

 

He managed to dodge out of the way of the rocket that Raza set on him, and reciprocated by sending a pile of rocks tumbling onto Raza. Tony fell to his knees besides Yinsen’s fallen form, opening his face plate.

 

“Come on. We got to go. Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it.”

 

“This was always the plan, Stark.”Hearing those words sent chills down Tony’s back.

 

“Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up.”He had thought that the promise of looking at his family again would make Yinsen walk again, but he was wrong.

 

“My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark. It's okay. I want this. I want this.”

 

“Thank you for saving me.”He knows that he could have never done anything to repay the kindness that other man had shown. So he would have to contend with only the gratitude Tony could express. And not for the first time Tony wished that his mutation had given him the ability to heal others. He could have done so much for the world. Saved so many lives, instead of destroying them with the weapons he had created.

 

“Don't waste it. Don't waste your life.”

 

As his friend’s life bled out of him he whispered, “I won’t. I promise you that.”He watched Yinsen’s eyes lose the spark of life in them, and rage spread through him until his vision was covered in red, in blood.

 

Everything after that was a blur of fire and heat as he destroyed the cave and everything around it. He blew up the SI weapons that they had gotten their hands on and destroyed the Jericho Missile, the explosion sending pieces flying everywhere.

 

Activating the thrusters, he flew through the air before crashing a few mile out in the desert, the suit falling to pieces around him.  Walking for days in the hot sun wasn’t what Tony would consider a good thing, but the only thing keeping him alive right now was distance from the terrorists and the crash site. When he finally heard the sounds of a helicopter, he thought he was hallucinating, especially when Rhodey stepped out.

 

“How was the fun-vee? Next time you ride with me, okay!”

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

As soon as the plane touches down, and the door opens, Tony gets down to business, he knows what he has to do for his future and the future of SI. He couldn’t take the pain anymore.

 

The moment he saw Pepper it was like the earth stood still. _I'm finally home._ He thought.

 

"Your eyes are red. A few tears for your long-lost boss?"

 

Her smile lit up the world. "Tears of joy. I hate job hunting."

 

"Yeah, vacation's over." As soon as they were in the car, Pepper started to fill him in in all that he was missing. Obidiah had been trying to rally the board into searching for him while keeping the investors happy. But the news that had made him the most happy was the fact that Charles had been searching for him.

 

When they SI, he immediately sat everyone down and spat out what he had been thinking from the time he was trapped in the cave to his leaning back home. "I had my eyes opened. I came to realize that I have more to offer this world than just making things that blow up. And that is why, effective immediately, I am shutting down the weapons manufacturing division until such a time as I can decide what the future of the company will be. What direction it should take, one that I'm comfortable with and is consistent with the highest good for this country, as well."

 

Everyone exploded into action, shouting questions at him. As soon as those words were out of his mouth Obidiah pushed Tony out of the way and started doing damage control. He drowned out most of the speech, instead, walking into the room that housed his first Arc Reactor.

 

Once Obidiah was done placating the crowd, he and Tony got into an argument. No matter how many times Tony tried to tell him that the Arc Reactor technology worked and that they wouldn’t need to manufacture weapons anymore, he didn't listen. Instead stating that Tony had been through too much and that he needed time to get his head geared straight.

 

Tony wished Obidiah would back the hell off.

 

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After he gets back to his Malibu home, Tony goes to his lab and starts building. To him, his Arc Reactor was now a relic, which is ironic considering the fact he'd built it in a cave. As soon as he was done, he sat on the topless chair in the middle of the lab and connected himself to the heart monitors, paging Pepper as he did so.

 

“Pepper. How big are your hands?”

 

“What?” he could hear he exasperation even though the electronics.

 

“How big are your hands?”

“I don't understand why...”

 

“Get down here. I need you.” And as soon as she opened the door, he started talking again. “Hey. Let's see them. Show me your hands. Let's see them. Oh, wow. They are small. Very petite, indeed. I just need your help for a sec.”

 

“Oh, my God, is that the thing that's keeping you alive?”

 

“It's was. It's is now an antique. This is what will be keeping me alive for the foreseeable future. I'm swapping it up for an upgraded unit, and I just ran into a little speed bump.” He explained to he about the exposed wire that was making it painful for himself to take out the Arc Reactor. When she had switched out the reactors, she looked ready to kill him for what he'd put her through.

 

“Don't ever, ever, ever, ever ask me to do anything like that ever again.”

 

“I don't have anyone but you. Anyway...” And that was true.

 

“What do you want me to do with this?”

 

“That? Destroy it. Incinerate it.”

 

He almost laughed when she asked, “You don't want to keep it?”

 

“Pepper, I've been called many things. ''Nostalgic'' is not one of them.” Which was also true. Just ask the Professor. Or any of his One Night Stands, really.

 

After Pepper leaves and he had Butterfingers clean up the lab, deciding to visit Rhodey.  But like all the others, he was only interested in what Tony could do for the company and the Military, not caring about what _Tony_ wanted to do.

 

As soon as he returned home he started working on the new armor having JARVIS running simulations. And as soon as the Mark II armor was completed, he took it for a test drive, finding a problem with the icing. He’d almost become a icicle because of it. And a pancake.

 

Going to the Gala had been an eye opener for Tony, especially about Pepper. He had never thought about his feelings for her because he hadn’t wanted to ruin the friendship that they shared. After seeing her in the dress, _And what a dress_. He thought. He couldn’t deny that he wanted more than a friendship with her.

 

The biggest surprise that he’d received had been from Obidiah and the revelation that he had been double dealing under the table, from Christine Everhart.

 

“Have you seen these pictures? What's going on in Gulmira?”

 

“Tony, Tony. You can't afford to be this naive.”

 

“You know what? I was naive before, when they said, "Here's the line. We don't cross it. This is how we do business." If we're double-dealing under the table... Are we?” He really didn’t want to believe this was possible, but the evidence spoke for itself.

 

“Tony. Who do you think locked you out? I was the one who filed the injunction against you. It's was the only way I could protect you.” Tony watched in disbelief as Obidiah walked away.

 

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Tony spent the next few days in his lab working on the Mark II Suit and watching the news. He was wearing the arm section of the Iron Man armor that he was currently working on, and angrily watching the news from Gulmira on the TV.  When the reporter shows the video of the child who had lost both his parents to the insurgents, Tony blasted the TV to bits.

 

Getting into the suit, Tony had JARVIS run the specs and flew to Gulmira. The minute he spotted the terrorists he wanted to blast them so much electricity that they wouldn't be able to walk much less hurt people. But he kept himself in check since they had hostages. Blasting those who came too close to him, he let JARVIS target those left with his missile target system and let loose small individual bullet missiles that he’s only recently developed.

 

He walked though the war zone, tracking the only man who was left of the Ten Rings.  Tony punched through the wall and grabbed the man who was had been shouting orders. He threw the man onto the ground, near the refugees, and activated his thrusters. “He's all yours.”

 

He received an unwanted tail on the way by the Air Force. Getting a call from Rhodey, he tried to divert his attention, but was almost blasted from the sky for it.  He hides on the belly of one of the jets but is quickly found out by the pilot.  Knowing he was going to regret it, he told Rhodey what he was doing. “This is not a piece of equipment. I'm in it. It's a suit. It's me!”

 

The pilot rolls then plane, Tony looses control of the thrusters and slams into the wing of the second plane, causing the pilot to eject himself out. But his parachute was stuck. Tony speeds to catch up him, while evading the second plane. He catches him, punches the stuck parachute control and the chute opens. Tony speeds up and flies away from both planes, realizing that they weren’t following him anymore.

 

Getting back to the lab Tony has JARVIS taking off the suit when Pepper walks in.

 

“What's going on here?”

 

Tony pauses for a second and then turns to look at Pepper. “Let's face it. This is not the worst thing you've caught me doing.”

 

“Are those bullet holes?" she shrieks.

 

“Pepper, please calm down! Lets not do anything hasty. Like set me on fire.”

 

She gives him a look that tells him he’s being an idiot. “I haven’t lost control of my powers since I was a child. And you are an idiot if you thing that I’m going to lose control now.”

 

“Ok ok. No need to get annoyed.” He started to placate her. “I can explain.”

 

He eyebrow rose. “Do.”

 

He told her about everything; what happened to him in Afghanistan, Yinsen dying, and Obidiah’s double-dealings under the table with the terrorists.

 

Her eyebrow continued to rise with each new piece of information until she looked like she wanted to set fire to Obidiah and watch him burn to ash.  Tony took out the USB drive he had been preparing and gave it to her.  “Hey. You busy? You mind if I send you on an errand? I need you to go to my office. You're going to hack into the mainframe and you're going to retrieve all the recent shipping manifests. This is a lock chip. This'll get you in. It's probably under Executive Files. lf not, they put it on a ghost drive, in which case you need to look for the lowest numeric heading.”

 

“Tony, you know that I would help you with anything, but I cannot help you if you're going to start all of this again.”

 

“There is nothing except this. There's no art opening. There is no benefit. There is nothing to sign. There is the next mission and nothing else.”

 

“Is that so? Well, then, I quit. _”_ She throws the USB stick into the table and starts to leave the workshop.

 

“You stood by my side all these years while I reaped the benefits of destruction. And now that I'm trying to protect the people that I put in harm's way, you're going to walk out?”

 

“You're going to kill yourself, Tony. I'm not going to be a part of it.” She sounds tired. Like she’s aged decades in the few months that he has been gone.

 

“I shouldn't be alive, unless it was for a reason. I'm not crazy, Pepper. I just finally know what I have to do... And I know in my heart that it's right.”

 

"You're all I have, too, you know.” She takes the USB stick and walks out of the lab.

 

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After Pepper leaves, Tony cleans his lab, creating an open space for him to work on his powers. He places a few tools on the ground and walks a distance away. Lifting his hand, he emptied his mind of all thoughts, using the techniques the Professor had taught him during his first years at the School.

 

Ever since he had come back, Tony had been practicing his powers, getting them back to the level that they had once been. A level that had once made him the most lethal of mutants. Sending a burst of telekinesis at the tools, he levitated them until they were at his eye level and then sent a spark of electricity until the metal glowed.

 

Tony had been absorbing small trickles of energy 24/7 ever since he had come back from Afghanistan.  Most of the energy went to accelerating the healing of his body while the rest was stored for later use.

 

After training for an hours, he shut down everything in the lab and made his way up the stairs to the living room. When his phone rang, Tony realized that Pepper would have made it to SI by now, though it was odd that she hadn’t called before.

 

Tony picks up the phone and opens his mouth to speak when a shrill sound causes his body to paralyze.  He starts to panic when he realizes that he was trapped inside his own body. He was wondering why JARVIS wasn’t calling the police or stacking the intruder when Obidiah stepped out from behind him smiling smugly holding a small device.

 

“You remember this one, right? It's a shame the government didn't approve it. There's so many applications for causing short-term paralysis.” He turns Tony head to face him, “Tony. When I ordered the hit on you, I worried that I was killing the golden goose. But, you see, it was just fate that you survived. You had one last golden egg to give.”

 

When Obidiah begins to removes the reactor, Tony’s can _feel_ the shrapnel making its way to his heart. It felt like his heart was on fire. “Do you really think that just because you have an idea, it belongs to you? Your father, he helped give us the atomic bomb. Now, what kind of world would it be today if he was as selfish as you?” As soon as the reactor was disconnected, Tony found that he couldn’t breath as well. The shrapnel was touching the sides of his lungs as he took each breath, bringing him closer to death.

 

Using the remaining power that he possessed, he sent it to the electromagnet, giving it enough power to keep the shrapnel from moving anymore than necessary.

 

As he watched, Obidiah held up the reactor and studied it. “Oh, it's beautiful. Tony, this is your Ninth Symphony. What a masterpiece. Look at that. This is your legacy. A new generation of weapons with this at its heart. Weapons that will help steer the world back on course, put the balance of power in our hands. The right hands. I wish you could see my prototype. It's not as...Well, not as conservative as yours.  
Too bad you had to involve Pepper in this. I would have preferred that she lived.” And then left the room, humming a show tune. Tony wanted to strangle the bastard, but he couldn’t move fast enough to catch him.

 

Remembering that Pepper had kept his old reactor, Tony slowly made his way to his lab. His footing slipped as he reached the stairs and he fell all the way to the bottom.  Shaking his head to get rid of the ringing he crawled to the table where the old reactor sat and reached for it only to slip and fall. All of his energy had been used to keep the shrapnel from reaching his heart until there was no more left.

 

As he lay sprawled against the table leg he thought about all that he hadn’t had a chance to do. He knew that most people would consider his life to be a dream, but what they didn’t see were the empty nights spent in the lab, eating without a companion, no sounds or voices filling the house. He sometimes even wished for….

 

He heard a beeping noise behind him and halfway turned to see Dummy holding out the box that held the reactor.

 

“Good boy.” He mutters and smashes the glass case holding the reactor. He stretched his arm and grabbed the reactor, placing it in his chest, falling to the ground as he did so. As darkness took him, he heard the quiet beeping of his robots.

 

When Tony finally came to it was to Rhodey shaking him.  “Tony? Tony? Tony? Tony? Tony!Tony! You okay?”

 

“Where's Pepper?” At this point that was the only thing he could think of. Obidiah’s last word were still ringing in his ears.

 

“She's fine. She's with five agents. They're about to arrest Obadiah.”

 

“That's not going to be enough.” With Rhodey’s help he managed to get to the platform and has JARVIS help him put on one of the suits.

 

“You need me to do anything else?” Tony fires at an already ruined sports car to move it out of the way.

 

“Keep the skies clear.” He activates the thrusters and take off through the hole he’d created after his first test flight.

 

By the time he made it tithe Arc Reactor Obidiah had already managed to escape the agents and was pointing his guns at Pepper. "Stane!" He manages to divert the guns at the last minute.

 

Tony swoops in and grabs Obidiah, forcing them both through the floor, out of a wall and across a nearby freeway, colliding with a few cars and a truck as they go. A car with a mother and children in it stops in front of Obidiah who picks the car up and threatens to throw it at Tony. When Obidiah refuses to put them down, Tony fires a laser from his chest piece, pushing Obidiah back and catching the car, which runs him over.

 

When Obidiah starts to throw his around, Tony activates the thrusters and flies out of the battle zone, causing Obidiah to follow.

 

"Sir, it appears that his suit can fly." Says JARVIS.

 

"Duly noted. Take me to maximum altitude."

 

"With only 15% power, the odds of reaching that..."

 

"I know the math! Do it!"

 

Obidiah manages to catch up with Tony and grabs hold of him.

 

"You had a great idea, Tony, but my suit is more advanced in every way!" Shouts Stane.

 

"How'd you solve the icing problem?" Tony asks innocently.

 

"Icing problem? Obidiah's armor loses power as it ices up.

 

"Might want to look into it." Said Tony as he punched Obidiah on the head, cracks some of the ice, and sends him falling back to Earth.

 

Tony lands on a roof at the Stark Industries factory and phones Pepper telling her to overload the Arc Reactor and blast the roof when Obidiah attacks him.

 

"Make sure you wait till I clear the roof. I'll buy you some time." Then Tony jumps onto the Iron Monger's back and pulls out some wires. "This looks important!"

 

Pepper calls when Tony is all out of power. "It's ready, Tony! Get off the roof!"

 

Obidiah starts to fire at Tony, breaking the glass he's standing on. As he falls, he grabs hold of a railing and hangs above the arc reactor with Obidiah still firing at him.

 

"How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever!"

 

"Pepper!"

 

"And now I'm going to kill you with it!" He fires a missile at Tony but misses. "You ripped out my targeting system!"

 

Tony looks down and sees Pepper. "Time to hit the button!" He shouts.

 

"You told me not to!" She yells back. Behind her a piece of equipment catches on fire. Looks like he'd finally succeeded in making Pepper lose control. Though he'd imagined the setting would have been different; maybe his bedroom?

 

"Hold still, you little prick!" Obidiah continued to try to hit Tony with missiles.

 

"Just do it!" He shouted to Pepper.

 

"You'll die!"

 

Loosing his grasp on the ledge he hung by only one hand. "Push it!"

 

Pepper pushes the button and runs as the reactor begins to overload. A surge of energy shoots upwards and knocks Tony back onto the main part of the roof. Obidiah is caught up on the energy beam. The beam shoots up into the sky above the city and then goes out. On the roof Stane falls forward and tumbles from the roof and into the reactor below. The reactor explodes, blowing out the front doors of the factory and up onto the roof.

 

When Tony was hit with the energy of the Arc Reactor, all his senses overloaded until he passed out from the endless energy he was absorbing. The last thing he saw before he slid into the darkness was the beam of pure energy.

 

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

A few days after the incident at the factory, Tony is reading the Chronicle with the headline 'Who is Iron Man' while Pepper hides the cracks and bruises on his face with makeup. "'Iron Man'... That's kind of catchy. It's got a nice ring to it. I mean, it's not technically accurate. The suit's a gold-titanium alloy, but it's kind of evocative, the imagery, anyway." He looks at Pepper who smiles absently as she takes off the bandages on his face.

 

Once Agent Coulson came in and explained what his cover story was going to be, Tony couldn't resist commenting.

 

"See, I was thinking maybe we should say it was just Pepper and me alone on the island." He smiles flirtatiously at Pepper who just smiles back with a condescending smile that just screams _In your dreams Tony._

 

"That's what happened." Coulson replied flatly.

 

"All right."

 

"Just read it, word for word."

 

Tony scans the paper and his brow crinkles a little. "There's nothing about Stane here." He'd stopped calling him Obidiah since the night the night of the fight at the factory.

 

"That's being handled. He's on vacation. Small aircraft have such a poor safety record." And that was downright terrifying how they managed to do that.

 

"But what about the whole cover story that it's a bodyguard? He's my body... I mean, is that... That's kind of flimsy, don't you think? He certainly thought so.

 

"This isn't my first rodeo, Mr Stark. Just stick to the official statement, and soon, this will all be behind you. You've got 90 seconds."

 

After Coulson left, Tony commented. "You know, it's actually not that bad. Even I don't think I'm Iron Man."

 

"You're not Iron Man."

 

"Am so." He smirked. He knew he sounded childish, but he couldn't help it.

 

"You're not."

 

"All right, suit yourself." Feeling a little self-conscious, he started to talk. "You know, if I were Iron Man, I'd have this girlfriend who knew my true identity. She'd be a wreck, 'cause she'd always be worrying that I was going to die, yet so proud of the man I'd become. She'd be wildly conflicted, which would only make her more crazy about me. Tell me you never think about that night." _Please say yes. Please say yes._ He thought silently.

 

"What night?"

 

"You know."

 

"Are you talking about the night that we danced and went up on the roof, and then you went downstairs to get me a drink, and you left me there, by myself? Is that the night you're talking about?" Tony nods even though he doesn't realize it. Her eyes were filled with the fire that was her gift. They promised passion while they burned you to death. Pepper smiles"Thought so. Will that be all, Mr Stark?"

 

"Yes, that will be all, Miss Potts."

 

Standing in front of the press, he's all prepared to set the coverup on what happened at the factory when Christine Everhart interrupts him. Tony's prepared to tell the lie, but when he looks at the cards, he thinks, _What the heck. You only live once._

"Yeah, okay. Yeah... The truth is... ... I am Iron Man."

 

   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

After a tiring day avoiding the press Tony walks into his Malibu home to find a man standing in his living room. He prepared to blast the man with electricity.

 

"JARVIS!"

 

"Welcome home, Sir."

 

The pirate with an eyepatch started talking "'I am Iron Man.' You think you're the only superhero in the world? Mr Stark, you've become part of a bigger universe. You just don't know it yet."

 

"Who the hell are you?"

 

"Nick Fury, Director of S.H.l.E.L.D."

 

"Oh." He stopped absorbing energy and shit down the electric whip that he'd been prepping.

 

"I'm here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So sorry for the long break guys :(  
> My schedule was a bit hectic ever since orientation for college. Yay me :)  
> I will be uploading the next chapter as soon as I can find a transcript for Iron Man 2. If you all could help me find one, that would be great.  
> I have plans for 2 more rebirth chapters before I get into the main storyline.  
> Thank you all for your comments, reviews, and kudos :)


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